India news: Police fire tear gas at ‘Cockroaches’ protest

Thank you for joining us today. We will continue to monitor developments following today’s demonstrations and provide updates in our India-focused blogs over the coming days.

In a post on X, the Delhi Police force asked “all protestors to exercise restraint and cooperate with the police in maintaining peace and law and order.”

They also advised “not to believe or spread rumors, misinformation, or unverified information through any social media platorms.”

Prominent Indian activist and CJP leader Sonam Wangchuk has vowed to continue his hunger strike, now in its third week, despite attempts from police to clear his protest site at Jantar Mantar.

His wife remained defiantly at the protest site, DW’s Shalu Yadav reported. The area has been packed with thousands of supporters since Saturday, and the CJP has urged people to continue coming in large numbers.

Wangchuk himself remains in a nearby hospital, where he says he has been illegaly detained by police.

Cockroach Janta Party Spokesperson Saurav Das said on Monday that he has been at Health Minister J P Nadda’s office since noon, when the government first opened talks with the protest movement that is demanding Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation. 

“The demands have been conveyed, including immediate resignation/sacking of Dharmendra Pradhan,” Das wrote on X.

He said that Nadda assured the CJP representatives that he would hold discussions at the appropriate level. 

“However, no commitments have been made so far. The peaceful protesters will not rest until the demand is met!” Das said. 

Das claimed that the minister also gave assurances that “no further crackdown will happen at Jantar Mantar” and around the protest site. The CJP spokesperson alleged that there were “no reports yet of the police stopping.”

Nadda said in a statement on X that a proposal came from the protesters on Monday morning to hold talks. 

“The meeting took place in a cordial atmosphere. An initial verbal discussion was held in detail with their delegation, and they submitted a written petition to me around 4 PM,” the federal health minister, who belongs to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said.

“I have requested all the protesters to end their sit-in and assist the administration in restoring normalcy,” Nadda added. 

DW spoke to young protesters as thousands of demonstrators who have taken to the streets of the Indian capital were met with baton charge and tear gas on Monday. 

“We were only going to ask for our rights. They are dispersing tear gas. We can’t breathe, our eyes are red. We are taking paper from the toilets to clean our eyes,” a protester told DW’s Adil Bhat. 

Protesters were seen wearing scarves, covering their mouths and noses. 

“About a minute back, they threw tear gas at us. I threw the canister back. Imagine how people without a respiratory mask would be faring right now. My eyes are burning. They are using tear gas on youngsters,” another protester, who had traveled from the western Indian city of Pune, told Bhat before he proceeded to rinse his eyes using bottled water. 

After earlier saying that Cockroach Janta Party’s founder Abhijeet Dipke had been “picked up” by the police, the movement’s chief spokesperson said that Dipke was “not in detention or arrest.”

The CJP did not immediately give any further details.

India’s Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan met Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday, as thousands of youth demonstrators in New Delhi tried to breach security cordons in a protest march seeking Pradhan’s resignation, Indian media reports said. 

The agenda of the reported meeting was not immediately clear.

Cockroach Janta Party’s founder Abhijeet Dipke has been “picked up” by the police, the movement’s chief spokesperson Saurav Das said on X on Monday afternoon. 

Das also alleged the police was “brutally” cracking down on the protesters.

The reported detention comes as Das and another spokesman held talks with the country’s health minister earlier in the day.

“While we submit a written letter…he (Health Minister Nadda) has ‌assured us that he will ‌meanwhile ​speak internally. We are in that process,” Das ​said on X, saying that the meeting lasted “10 ⁠minutes.”

There has yet to be an official confirmation of Dipke’s detention.

India’s Gen Z ‘Cockroaches’ protest national exams fraud

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A police official has told DW’s Shalu Yadav that over 100,000 people have descended on the streets of the Indian capital for the protest.

“The protest is not showing any signs of abating,” Yadav reports, adding that people are angry and trying to break the barricades.

Yadav also reports that some people have been injured in the ensuing chaos. 

Indian media reports say that some protesters and police personnel have been injured in clashes between demonstrators and security forces. 

Police fired tear gas after protesters tried to breach security barricades to march on to the parliament in New Delhi, media reports said on Monday afternoon.

“Stop using tear gas on the youth in front of the Parliament. Choose the path of dialogue instead of repression.,” the Cockroach Janta Party said on X, sharing a video purportedly showing tear gas fired at the protesters. 

Both houses of the Indian parliament were adjourned until 2 p.m. local time as lawmakers face a challenging first day back at work for the monsoon session.

Hundreds of youth protesters are trying to reach the parliament, demanding that India’s education minister steps down. 

Leaders from opposition parties have also shown solidarity with the movement kickstarted by the viral Cockroach Janta Party. 

On Monday, the Samajwadi Party (SP) protested in the parliament complex to demand a discussion on the medical exam paper leaks that sparked the youth outcry. Some of the party’s MPs were seen holding banners with “paper leak” written on them. 

Speaking to the media, party chief  Akhilesh Yadav accused Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party government of ignoring the students’ issues. 

After visuals showed security forces baton-charging protesters, Yadav described the action as “disheartening”. 

Speaking to the media, he called on youth members of the SP wanting to go to the Jantar Mantar protest site to carry the party’s message to demonstrators that “we stand with you”.

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor also criticized police action.

“When a non-violent protest is taking place, what is the reason for a lathi (baton) charge?” he said while talking to Indian news agencies.

The Modi government has reached out for talks with the Cockroach Janta Party, the protest movement’s chief spokesperson Saurav Das said on X.

Das said that he and Ashutosh Ranka, another spokesperson, were on their way to meet federal Health Minister JP Nadda. 

“The government had reached out for talks in the morning. Our demands are clear. The youth has gathered in huge numbers,” Das said speaking of the youth protest that has gripped the capital.

There was no immediate statement from the government on the talks.

While riot police baton-charged protesters marching to parliament, opposition lawmakers inside the legislative body’s lower house demanded a discussion on the medical entrance exam leaks. 

As opposition MPs raised slogans, the Lok Sabha was adjourned until noon shortly after it commenced proceedings on Monday, marking the first day of the parliament’s monsoon session.